- 15 Apr 12, 11:26#299306
2012 CHINESE GRAND PRIX STATISTICS
Qualifying statistics
Race statistics
Qualifying statistics
- This was Nico Rosberg's first ever pole position. Although he was the youngest ever driver to set a fastest race lap, aged 20 at the 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix, his first pole position, 6 years later, puts him some 5 years short of being the youngest pole sitter. He is still younger than his father though, who was 34 when he trained his first pole position at the 1982 British Grand Prix. Keke didn't need as many races though: 60 versus 111.
- The last pole position of Mercedes Grand Prix was 57 years ago, by Juan Manuel Fangio at the 1955 Italian Grand Prix, which was Mercedes' last race before their comeback in 2010. Like in China, Mercedes started from the front row, with Sterling Moss qualifying on p2.
- While Hamilton was hopeful of securing a third pole position in a row, statistics were against him. In the 90's, in seven years the pole sitter in the first race was able to train pole for the first three races. In the 2000's however, it happened only once, and since Michael Schumacher in 2004, only Sebastian Vettel was able to train pole position for the first three races of the season, last year in 2011.
- The difference between the numbers 1 and 10 after Q2 was just 0.257s, which is the smallest qualifying gap in any session for at least the last 25 years. The nearest to that was the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, where Heikki Kovalainen on p1 and Jarno Trulli on p10 after Q2 were only 0.339s apart. P11 and P10 were seperated by 0.13s then, while Vettel was just 0.049s short of Alonso's p10.
- With Sebastian Vettel's 11th qualifying position, it was the first time since the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix that he was unable to qualify in the top 10.
- Of the 3 long-time team mate qualifying battles, Vettel and Webber are now 43:15(74%), with Alonso outqualifying Massa 33:8(80%) and Hamilton outqualifying Button 30:11(73%).
Race statistics
- Nico Rosberg scored his first race win, also his first win from pole position. It's his sixth total podium finish and he is the 103rd Grand Prix winner in history.
- He is the 15th driver in history to get his first race win in the same Grand Prix as his first pole position, after Giuseppe "Nino" Farina (1950 British GP), Juan Manuel Fangio (1950 Monaco GP), José Froilán González (1951 British GP), Alberto Ascari (1951 German GP), Stirling Moss (1955 British GP), Joakim Bonnier (1959 Dutch GP), Phil Hill (1960 Italian GP), Nelson Piquet (1980 United States West GP), Ayrton Senna (1985 Portuguese GP), Jarno Trulli (2004 Monaco GP), Felipe Massa (2006 Turkish GP), Lewis Hamilton (2007 Canadian GP), Sebastian Vettel (2008 Italian GP) and Mark Webber (2009 German GP).
- 6 other drivers also turned their first pole position into a win, although they had won before: Jack Brabham (1959 British GP; first win was 1959 Monaco GP), Jody Scheckter (1976 Swedish GP; first win was 1974 Swedish GP), Gilles Villeneuve (1979 United States West GP; first win was 1978 Canadian GP), Michele Alboreto (1982 Belgian GP; first win was 1983 Detroit GP), Thierry Boutsen (1990 Hungarian GP; first win was 1989 Canadian GP) and Michael Schumacher (1994 Monaco GP; first win was 1992 Belgian GP).
- His father Keke Rosberg was unable to convert his first pole position into a win, not finishing the 1982 British Grand Prix after a fuel problem. His first win, later that year in Switzerland, came from 8th position on the grid.
- After Graham and Damon Hill, and Gilles and Jacques Villeneuve, Keke and Nico Rosberg are now the third father-son pair to have both won races. The only other family members to have done so are brother Michael and Ralf Schumacher.
- With Nico Rosberg being the 7th German race winner, Germany now has more race winners then Brazil. The country with most race winners is still Great Britain, with 19.
- Although 111 races before his first win must have felt like an eternity, there are actually four drivers who took longer: Mark Webber (130th race), Rubens Barrichello (123rd race), Jarno Trulli (119th race) and Jenson Button (113th race). Giancarlo Fisischella needed 110 races before his first victory.
- By winning his 111th race, Rosberg actually saved himself from making the top 10 of most races without a win, with Mika Salo and Piercarlo Ghinzani having participated in 111 Grand Prix's without winning. Although, if you only count race starts, he was already on that list, as the latter didn't qualify for all their Grand Prix's.
- Jenson Button scored his 44th podium finish, as did Lewis Hamilton.
- Lewis Hamilton is the first driver in history to score three consecutive third place finishes from the first race of the season.
- Heinz-Harald Frentzen (1997 Belgian Grand Prix - 1997 Luxemburg Grand Prix) and Mark Webber (2011 Canadian Grand Prix - 2011 German Grand Prix) share the record for most consecutive third place finishes, with 4 each.
- Despite that, Lewis Hamilton is only the 12th driver in history to score three consecutive third place finishes after Luigi Villoresi (1951 Belgian GP - 1951 British GP), Jean Behra (1956 French GP - 1956 German GP), Dan Gurney (1965 Dutch GP - 1965 Italian GP), Denny Hulme (1972 Italian GP - 1972 USA GP), Jacques Laffite (1979 German GP - 1979 Dutch GP), Mika Häkkinen (1994 Italian GP - 1994 European GP), Gerhard Berger (1995 San Marino GP - 2003 Canadian GP), Rubens Barichello (2003 San Marino GP - 2003 Austrian GP) and Kimi Räikkönen (2008 Japanese GP - 2008 Brazilian GP).
- While unlikely he won't score higher, if Lewis Hamilton scores only 3rd places this year, he would actually have a good chance of winning the title. Although only 3rd places would have put him short of winning the title in years such as 2002, 2004 and 2011, consistent 3rd place finishes would have won the championship in most other years, although no champion has even won the title without winning a race that year.
- Kamui Kobayashi got his first ever fastest lap. He is only the third ever Japanese driver to set a fastest lap, after Masahiro Hasemi set the fastest lap in his only Formula One race, the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix, and Satoru Nakajima in the 1989 Australian Grand Prix.
Last edited by mnmracer on 15 Apr 12, 15:27, edited 4 times in total.
The less intelligent observers say anyone could do it in that car.
